Hindu dharma has been accepted worldwide as a way of life and not as a religion, Union minister Rajeev Pratap Rudy said on Wednesday.

“Hindu dharma followed by crores of people in India is not a religion. It is accepted as a way of living worldwide,” he said at a meet of Hindu spiritual organisations held at a beach in Kozhikode on Wednesday night.

Inaugurating the sangamam, Yoga guru Ramdev had said dividing the society in the name of caste and religion should be stopped.

“The need of the hour is unity of the people and the nation. The madness of dividing people and the nation on the basis of caste and religion should be stopped,” he said.

Ramdev urged people to avoid products by multi-national companies, saying that people of the country should be equipped with products and techniques made in India.

He announced that a higher education centre will be opened, named after the Adi Sankara in Kerala at the sage’s birth place.

Thousands of people from Kozhikode and nearby districts participated in the meet organised by various Hindu spiritual outfits such as the Chinmaya Mission, Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Matha Amritanandamayi Math, Kolathur Advaitha Ashram.

More than a hundred spiritual leaders from across the stateparticipated in the meet. Head of the Sivagiri math, Swami Prakashananda conducted a puja with holy waters brought from the rivers of Kerala.